Nonesuch#31 - Hindsight is 20/20

I helped a stranger. She said a guy I went to school with told her to come and see if I could help. She never did say what school that was but where I live now is nowhere near where I went to high school and over an hour from where I went to college. She said she was in dire need and wasn't sure what she was going to do, so I helped. It wasn't much and she promised to repay me. Now, I have heard all the stories. My Father being a minister, we lived right off of I-95 and had many many folks come off the highway and ask for gas, food, hotel room and just plain old cash. A few times I was home alone when one of these people would show up. Some would not take no for an answer. Dad got really good with these folks. He would offer to go with them to a gas station and pay for a full tank of gas or take them to McDonald's for a burger. I think the church even had a fund set up for these occasions seeing they were often. He had one guy say sure and Dad told him which gas station to meet him and the guy drove off and back onto I95 without stopping for gas. Sometimes, these people would try other churches in the area, but there was a communication line between all the churches. I think they even took turns as being the church the police department would call in case of emergencies. Yes, there were real emergencies from time to time, but I got really suspicious of folks coming asking.

This whole thing reminds me of in ancient Greece and I want to say even in modern Greece, the guest/host relationship; where a traveller comes to your house, you invite them in, treat them as one of your family cause you just never know when one of the gods or godesses might stop by.

So, why did I help if I am so suspicious. That, I don't know. Sometimes my faith in others can blind me to people that are only out to take advantage of a someone like me. Perhaps she did need it more than I, perhaps not. In the of it all, does it really matter...